Woolaroc Ready for Summer Season, Kids, Day Camps
KIDSFEST: This year’s Kidsfest will take place June 28-29 at Woolaroc this summer. The event, this year titled “Return to the Wild, Wild West,??? will feature Mountain Men, authentic Civil War re-enactors and period items for sale. For more information, visit www.woolaroc.org.
Courtesy of Woolaroc
Woolaroc is a 3,700-acre working ranch built by Frank Phillips in 1925 and is one of the great treasures in America. The 50,000 square foot museum is filled with magnificent southwest art and amazing exhibits. The original lodge home sits today just as it did when the Phillips family lived here. The ranch is home to herds of buffalo, elk, deer, scotch highland cattle, longhorns, water buffalo, llama, ostrich and more.
From April through Labor Day, the Mountain Man Camp is open to all guests as they can see the authentic lifestyle of the mountain man in the 1840s and while there, learn how to shoot a black powder long rifle and how to properly throw a tomahawk.
There is indeed “magic” everywhere at Woolaroc, and nowhere does it show itself more than when it comes to the children. Kids were important to “Uncle Frank” and he felt we all had an obligation to future generations to teach them about the true history of the West and the cowboy and the American Indian and their culture. Today, the management at Woolaroc continues to work hard to fulfill that obligation, from the opening of their new children’s playground last year on the main grounds to Kidsfest and Camp Woolaroc.
Kidsfest is an annual children’s festival on the grounds of Woolaroc and this year it will be held on June 28 and 29.
“We anticipate this to be a great event this year, as our theme is “Return to the Wild, Wild West” and we are doing just that,” says Woolaroc CEO Bob Fraser. “On the grounds of Woolaroc we will have our Mountain Men set up camp, authentic Civil War re-enactors will set up on the main grounds of Woolaroc along with several Indian tribes, allowing our guests to interact and see what the lifestyles really were back in the 1800s. The Civil War troop will be bringing their large cannon which will fire during the day while Cowboys will be busy deputizing our young guests in order to protect our older guests.”
In addition to the re-enactors, Kidsfest will have children’s games and crafts and vendors will be set up on the grounds selling their authentic “period” items.
In July, Woolaroc will host Camp Woolaroc. Children ages 6-8 can attend July 22-24 and ages 9-11 attend July 29-31. The schedule for the days is unique, designed to educate and entertain kids. Last year campers learned how to saddle a horse, use a branding iron, wash clothes on a washboard, ate lunch with the Mountain Men, explored the creeks and backwoods, identified the various plant types, made a stained glass window, learned how to make pottery and much more.
The price for the week is $60 and classes fill up quickly.
“There may be a lot of summer camps for children, but believe me there is only one Camp Woolaroc,” says Carol Ann Cone, one of the volunteer teachers who works the Camp each year. “The children absolutely love it, but sometimes it is hard to tell who is having more fun, the kids or the teachers!”
The mission created for Woolaroc by Phillips, “to preserve, entertain and educate,” is alive today at Woolaroc, from the grounds to herds of animals, the museum to the timeless lodge, that mission is being pursued each and every day. Phillips did it right back in 1925 and it is still being done that way today.
Woolaroc is located on State Highway 123, 45 minutes northwest of Tulsa and 12 miles southwest of Bartlesville.
To learn more about Woolaroc, go to www.woolaroc.org or call (918) 336-0307. Woolaroc is open Wednesday through Sunday during the year but open Tuesday through Sunday from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for over 65 and children 11 and under are free.
Updated 04-23-2008
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